Greater Portland Baptist Church

Jesse and Tiffany Shanks: June 2007

After finishing deputation, driving to Québec, starting school, and moving into our apartment all within a three week period, we were very much looking forward to a break. In the second week of June we finished our first five week session of French at the University, and began a four week session of French in the real world. During this break we have taken the opportunity to use the French we have learned as we interact on a regular basis with francophones (French speaking people).

The church we have been attending here has many people who have a desire to help us learn French. So, even though many of them can speak English, they will most often speak to us in French; very slowly and clearly I might add!

In searching for new and better ways to increase our French vocabulary, I spent several hours one day looking up the words for household items in our French & English dictionary. Then, I printed out small labels of all the words which I taped to each corresponding item. By the end of the day, we had a French-labeled apartment. Everything from our socks to the toaster has a label now! It doesn't do much for the aesthetic look of our apartment, but it sure does help our vocab!

During the first week of the break, we were very busy around the apartment, finishing the final touches in order to get finally "settled in." Since then, we have stayed very busy helping with a remodeling project at church, and assisting some fellow missionaries as they are finishing language school and departing for Africa.

One thing that I have come to realize more than ever before is that although Québec is the most beautiful cities we have ever seen, it is also one of the most needy mission fields we have seen. Recently, Québec celebrated Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, which is the equivalent of America's Independence Day. French Canadians are very proud of their amazing heritage, but unfortunately in Québec City they choose to celebrate this holiday by converging in vieux-Québec (downtown) and consuming as much alcohol as is humanly possible. What we have been told by several Christians here is that Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (named after John the Baptist) is the day that all of Québec looks forward to all year long. Although most Québecois are very nice and generous people, it is extremely sad to see the lack of peace and purpose in their lives because of their complete disregard for biblical Christianity.

Many people have asked about our current mailing address, so I will include it in this letter with the following disclaimer; please do not send packages to us in Québec without contacting us first. The reason for this is because of the border duties and many other possible complications based upon what is in the package. Regular mail is fine, however. Our Oregon mailing address is still valid as well, since we have somebody collecting our mail for us.

Thank you so much for your prayer!

In His Grace,
Jesse, Tiffany, and Joshua Shanks

OUR NEW ADDRESS
3084 rue des Châtelets, App.#8
Québec, QC G1V 3Y5
CANADA